London’s British Museum has recovered some of the 2,000 treasures stolen from its storerooms after a sloppy internal investigation led to the resignation of its director.
“We have already started to recover some of the items that were stolen,” the museum’s chairman George Osborne said in an interview with the BBC on Saturday.
“We believe we have been victims of theft for a long time and frankly more could have been done to prevent it,” Osborne said, referring to an investigation launched in 2021 by Hartwig Fischer, the museum’s director for the last time. eight years.
Fischer, who was due to step down next year, abruptly left his post at the storied museum on Friday, days after a museum worker was fired on suspicion of looting its storeroom, the BBC reported.
“Over the last few days I have been studying in detail the events surrounding the theft from the British Museum and the investigation into it,” Fischer said in his resignation statement. “It is clear that the British Museum did not respond as comprehensively as it should have in response to the warning in 2021, and to the problems that have now fully emerged. The responsibility for that failure must lie with the director.”
Antiquities and other treasures stolen from the British Museum in recent years are being recovered, according to the chairman of the museum’s board or trustees.Getty Images
The British Museum opened its doors to the public in 1759. In recent years hundreds of treasures held by the institution have appeared for sale on eBay.Getty Images
Fischer was the first non-British director of the museum which opened in 1759.
The stolen items included pieces of gold jewelry and semi-precious stones dating from the 15th century BC to the 19th century.
A senior curator was blamed for the theft. A man has been interviewed by London’s Metropolitan Police but no arrests have been made.
London’s Metropolitan Police say they have made no arrests in the theft of 2,000 items that were stolen from the British Museum. PA photo via Getty Images
Some of the treasures were discovered when a Dutch antiques dealer alerted the museum after seeing objects from his collection for sale on eBay.
Some of the stolen items, valued at more than $62,000, were sold on resale platforms for as little as $50, according to the museum.
Osborne said that the board of trustees has begun actively looking for a new permanent director. Meanwhile, deputy director Jonathan Williams will lead the museum on an interim basis until a new director is found, Osborne said.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
